Dem talk: Climate deniers, mascots and the Constitution

Monday, March 17, 2014

Last week, Washington, D.C.'s finest Democrats didn't attempt to fix Obamacare, didn't try to get to the bottom of the Benghazi attack, didn't suggest President Barack Obama get tough with Russian President Vladimir Putin and didn't try to find out the truth about the IRS scandal. But here's some of what they did do:

Who Takes This Man Seriously?

Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., who recently said every "horror" story in which people reported trouble with Obamacare was a lie, is at it again. Fresh off the Senate Democrats' all-night pajama party to talk about climate change last week, the Senate majority leader said those who don't say climate change is a problem requiring federal action are "deniers." Opining on a mild, 67-degree day in Washington, D.C., he told The Weekly Standard, "These deniers are, each day as the weather gets worse, becoming less credible." In truth, each time Reid opens his mouth, the world finds he is less credible.

Endangered Mascots

Rep. Donna Edwards, D-Md., got caught up last week in the giddiness of the National Wildlife Federation's attempt to alert the American public to animals endangered by climate change by comparing them to college mascots. "I can't wait," she said, "to dig through the report and actually compare the dangers to those mascots to my [NCAA college basketball] brackets come Sunday. Actual terrapins, of which the University of Maryland has a mascot version, would reportedly be threatened by a much warmer Earth. Edwards didn't say when she made her proclamation, but perhaps her brain that day was on terrapin speed.

The Gentlewoman From Texas

Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, surely one of the most quotable women ever to serve in the U.S. House, suggested during a recent speech to congressional colleagues that the Constitution and the American system of governance has lasted about 400 years. "Maybe I should offer a good thanks to the distinguished members of the majority, the Republicans, my chairman and others, for giving us an opportunity to have a deliberative discussion that reinforces the sanctity of this nation and how well it is that we have lasted some 400 years, operating under a Constitution that clearly defines what is constitutional and what is not," she said. This is the same astute Lee who asked if the Mars Rover would be able to show "the flag the astronauts planted there before," who said hurricane names were too "lily white," and who, in 2010, described the present "two Vietnams, side by side, North and South, exchanging and working."

That Sinking Feeling

It may mean nothing come November, but Democrats have said all along last week's special congressional election in Florida's 13th District would be a bellwether for the fall. And all the signs favored a Democrat win in the race since candidate Alex Sink had been elected statewide, President Obama took the district in 2008 and 2012, and Republican candidate David Jolly had been painted as a lobbyist with personal issues and was outspent more than 3 to 1 in television advertising. Plus, a Libertarian candidate threatened to draw votes from the GOP. Nevertheless, Jolly won a plurality of votes, and Obamacare was an issue, if not the main issue. Whether that portends a chance for the GOP to win the Senate this year is not clear, but what is clear is that the look-quick, it-changes-daily Affordable Care Act is not going to go away as an issue.

Intelligent Designers Need Not Apply

So much for academic freedom. Creationists can't get a hearing on most college campuses, and now Ball State University says intelligent design won't be heard by students, either, according to the Washington Times. An honors course titled "Boundaries of Science," in which assistant physics and astronomy professor Eric Hedin suggested nature displays evidence of intelligent design, has been canceled, despite a petition signed by 10,000 people disputing the action. It's unclear what four Indiana state legislators looking into the action can do, but they did register their complaint that although intelligent design can't get mentioned, a seminar called "Science Must Destroy Religion" was quite all right to be taught at the university.